Homemade Pita Bread - Sips, Nibbles & Bites (2024)

February 9, 2019 By Steven 37 Comments

Homemade Pita Bread?

Four minutes in the oven is all that it takes to make freshly baked homemade Pita Bread. My Pita Bread recipe is very easy to make, a yeast-leavened flatbread originating in the Mediterranean and the Middle East dating back over 4000 years!

Freshly baked, the delicious smell and flavor of Pita Bread fresh out of the oven is far superior to the stale old pita bread you buy in the store. The Pita is baked at a high temperature, the moisture in the dough turns to steam causing the Pita bread to puff up making its own little pocket. Perfect for stuffing with your choice of sandwich fixings or even better, my fresh homemade Baked Falafel recipe. If you’re going to go make homemade Falafels, you definitely need to take an extra few minutes to make homemade Pita Bread, you’ll be glad you did.

Pita Bread Ingredients

• Active Dry Yeast: One package is 2 ¼ teaspoons, you can use the entire amount, a little extra won’t hurt your Pita Bread recipe. I buy a jar of yeast and keep it in the refrigerator. You need to add the yeast to warm water, with the sugar and a pinch of flour, let it sit for about 10 minutes. You will notice after 10-minutes the surface of the water is covered in foam. This indicates your yeast is good and you’re ready to proceed with the recipe.
• Warm Water: You need to wake up the yeast and activate it. The water needs to be 110F, an instant-read thermometer works great, but I’ve often just checked the temperature by hand. As long as it is warmer than body temperature and not so hot that it is burning you, it will activate the yeast.
• Sugar: The yeast needs something to consume in order to activate, a little sugar and a pinch of flour will help activate the yeast and gives your Pita Bread a delicate sweetness.
• Flour: I use a combination of wheat and all-purpose flour. You can make Pita Bread with either 100% whole wheat or all-purpose flour or a combination of both. Just make sure the total amount of flour equals 2 ¾ cups.
• Olive Oil: Gives the bread great texture and flavor. For Pita Bread, you want to keep the finished baked bread soft and not too chewy. Olive oil, in this case, is working as the ‘shortening’ preventing the gluten protein strands from becoming too long thereby creating tougher bread.
• Salt: It is always important to add the salt towards the end of kneading the Pita Bread dough. When making any recipe with yeast, you never want the yeast to come into direct contact with the salt.

What’s the difference between Naan and Pita Bread?

Both Naan and Pita Bread are yeast-leavened flatbread. The difference is that Naan is an enriched bread containing eggs and yogurt. You can check out my Naan recipe here.

Is Pita Bread Vegan-Friendly?

Yes! Luckily, yeast is classified as a fungus, therefore, my Homemade Pita Bread recipe is vegan-friendly. And a great way to eat my vegan Baked Falafels, Baba Ganoush, and Hummus.

Unfortunately, Pita Bread is neither Keto nor gluten-free, however, it is relatively healthy with only around 165 calories and 33 grams of carbs. Pita Bread made with whole wheat flour, the calories drop to around 140 and only 27 grams of carbs. Making a Pita pocket sandwich a great alternative to an ordinary two slices of bread type sandwich.

What to serve with Homemade Pita Bread recipe:

Healthy Baked Falafel, baked falafels are so much easier to make than deep-frying, freshly baked Pita Bread is the perfect companion!

Shakshuka with Spinach, freshly baked pita bread dipped into the spicy sauce and runny yokes of the Shakshuka? Yes, please.

Authentic Baba Ganoush, cut into triangles and toasted, Pita Bread is used as chips for scooping up this smoky eggplant dip.

My Hummus recipe, I use cucumber in my Hummus rather than the liquid from the chickpeas, pureed it adds the necessary moisture and great flavor, perfect with homemade Pita Chips.

Here’s my Homemade Pita Bread recipe:

Thank you for visiting my Food Blog, I hope you enjoy my homemade Pita Bread recipe. Please come back and visit again soon! Bon Appetit, Steven